Or Maybe It's Just me...

And those by themselves by choice or by some reward 

No mistakes only now you're bored 

This is the time of your life but you just can't tell

- She Wants Revenge "These Things"

Disclaimer: If you're here to read about how I got over my shin splints, or what's up with my quad, my training, my coach with the most, sorry. Not this post. I will write about them, just not today. This is more of a quick lil glimpse into mind. I'm not responsible for any trauma, therapy or nightmares that may arise. 

Today, I had a short conversation about relationships. Well short is relative. It was 140 characters or less. There seemed to be a bit of a consensus (if two can be considered a consensus, but work with me on this) that it takes a very special person to date an endurance athlete.

Let me back up a bit.

Nope, not a jeep

I wasn't always an endurance athlete. A year ago at this time, I was about 220lbs, smoked over a pack a day and had incredible Fast-Food-Fu. I used to joke that the only time I ran was from my desk chair to the kitchen and back. I won't bore you with the hows and whys of me getting active. Let's just say it happened. When it did, I quickly realized that just exercise wasn't going to keep me going. I need to strive for something. A goal that I could reach. And keep reaching it, only making it a bit different each time. So I thought about entering a few races. I started biking as well as running. Then I had a conversation with myself. It went a bit like this:

"Hey, Me?"
"Yes Me?"
"You know, we're a lot better at biking than running."
"No shit, thank you Capt. Obvious"
"Asshole. Anyway, maybe we should think about biking instead of running."
"But running is easier to do than biking at times."
"Oh good point. Glad you're the brains of the operation...."

Conversations with myself

Anyway, one thing led to another and I decided to do this crazy thing called Triathlon/Duathlon. I had no idea how it would totally turn my life upside down. When I started, I never had dreams of a Half Ironman. Let alone even thinking about Kona.

Somewhere along the line endurance sports went from "something I did" to a lifestyle for me. I can't put my finger on exactly where I turned that corner. But I literally eat, drink, breathe and dream this stuff. At night, when it's dark and I'm falling asleep, I'm picturing going through a transition, or a bike leg, or a run or a swim. When I wake up, my first thought is "Can I run outside this morning or is it still too cold?"

Is it Spring yet?!

People jokingly say I'm obsessed with it. I think if they dropped the joking bit, they would nail the bullseye. As far as obsessions go, I believe I could do a lot worse. Since starting on this merry little journey, I've stopped smoking, dropped 80 pounds, have gotten in the best shape I've been in since my early 20s. I'm eating better, sleeping better and a lot of physical problems have gone away. Granted, there's been some new ones to jump up, but not anywhere near as serious.

Ok, back on topic.

It takes a very special person to date an endurance athlete.

I can only speak for myself, so please don't apply what I'm saying to other endurance athletes. Remember, I'm obsessed.

To date someone like me, you have to be slightly crazy. Look, I'm up at 4:30 AM, even if I'm training after work. I'm in bed by 9:00 pm almost every night. Every meal I eat, I'm thinking if I'm getting too many carbs, not enough protein, did I get enough vegetables... you get the idea. Everything I do runs through the filter of "How is this going to affect my next workout and my overall training."

Can you imagine being with someone like that? Let me give you an example:

You go up to your partner and say "Honey, let's go out to eat and see a movie" (See, it sounds simple doesn't it?)
"That sounds great dear, where did you want to go eat?" (Endurance athletes love our food it's fuel for our body)
"How about XYZ restaurant?"
Cue silence as I quickly google their menu to see what they serve... "No, how about somewhere else? They have too much grease for me to handle.."
"Oh ok, what about ABC?"
"Hrmmm no, to many carbs, I'm hitting max carbs for the week."
"EFG?"
"Oh, I think I can eat there..."
"Great, we'll eat there and catch the 9:27 showing.."
"Can we get an earlier one?"
"The 5:42?"
"Yeah, that way I can be home in bed by 10pm. I got a killer brick/century ride/long run tomorrow.."
"Well that means we have to eat at 2pm..."

See what I mean?

Imagine going through that every time during race season. I know you breathed a sigh of relief. Just during race season. Whew. Once race season is over, things settle down. Well. No. Sorry. Off season training starts. I saw you rolling your eyes at me. Yes off season training. Because next season, we're going to get that new PR/Age Group Finish/Qualification for Nationals/Kona Invite. We gotta start getting better, faster, stronger now. Not getting any younger over here...

Someone said that only other endurance athletes would understand. I think I agree, all things being equal. If I was dating someone and knew they were in the middle of two a days getting ready for their A race, I totally get that and would do what I could to help them out. Unless our A races are the same. Then we're both on two a days. And I gotta push. If the wonderful lady I'm dating chicks me during the race, I know I'll never hear the end of it. Any other woman can chick me, just please God, not her.

Remember when I said I was competitive? Read that last sentence above again.

Just not who I'm dating, please God?

I joke about my being solitary a lot. And yes it is by choice. I choose this lifestyle. I believe it's making me a better person, not just physically, but all around. I'm finally getting my trainwreck of a life together because of this. I realise I might be missing out on a lot in life to do this. But I also realise that I'm gaining a lot more out of life by doing this. So if it's a solitary life for a while, I'm ok with that.

Besides, what girl wants to have to admit to her friends "Yeah, had to help him shave his legs last night... again."